Serene Thoughts

[heman]

Qualities That Lead To Enlightenment
It must never be forgotten that all Buddha’s primarily teach only two things, i.e. suffering (dukha) and its cessation. It is expounded by way of the four noble truths, i.e. suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. The truth of suffering should be known. The cause for it should be set aside. Its cessation should be realized and the path to its cessation should be developed.
The path that needs to be developed is the Noble Eightfold Path. In the process of developing the eight factors of the path, another twenty nine qualities get developed, making up a total of thirty seven qualities. Hence they are called the thirty seven dhammas that lead to enlightenment. The task of the individual, therefore, is to develop and complete these thirty seven qualities, culminating in the full knowledge and realization of the four noble truths and the complete extinction of dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness).
So it is beneficial and necessary for one to know these thirty seven qualities and proceed with the task of developing them. The following is a brief outline.
We have the eight factors of the noble eightfold path. They are :

• Right view
• Right thought
• Right speech
• Right action
• Right livelihood
• Right effort
• Right mindfulness and
• Right concentration

Right View – is to know and see things as they really are. This means seeing Dependent – Arising, seeing Conditionality, one must avoid the two extremes i.e. things are there and things are not there. These two extremes are wrong view. Actually, all things arise dependently. This is the middle path and right view. That which is dependently arisen is impermanent (anicca), becomes otherwise (dukkha) and not-self (anatta) i.e. no control, no mastery, no essence. These are the right perceptions that develop with right view. It is the knowledge of the four noble truths.
Right thought – is the abstinence from thoughts of kama (sense pleasures), abstinence from thoughts of aversion, and the abstinence from thoughts of harm. It means the development of thoughts of restraint, kindness, compassion and appreciative joy.
Right speech – is to abstain from false speech, harsh speech, malicious speech and idle speech. One must speak the truth and that which is beneficial.
Right action – is to abstain from taking sentient life, abstain from taking that which is not yours and to abstain from sexual misconduct.
Right livelihood – means the development of the qualities of gratitude, gifting and the control of greed. It requires one to abstain from the five wrong vocations, i.e., trading in weapons, intoxicants, poisons, slaves and raring and selling animals for the purpose of slaughter. For right livelihood being upright is essential.
Right effort- is the development of that untiring and unwavering effort arising from the four great efforts.
Right mindfulness– is the development of the four foundations of mindfulness (given below). This is the foundation that leads to wisdom.
Right concentration – is the development of serene concentration. A mind that is calm, tranquil, serene and one-pointed due to being released from the five hindrances. It means the development of the four jhaanas.
When developing these eight factors of the path, it must always be borne in mind that right view must lead the way. What it means is that every factor must be accompanied by right view.
Now when the development of this eight factored path commences, the four foundations of mindfulness get developed. They are :

• Being mindful of body
• Being mindful of feeling
• Being mindful of mental states
• Being mindful of things

When one establishes mindfulness to these four foundations, one must always perceive their arising and ceasing nature. Being mindful in this way is the key to this path development.
Alongside this development, there develops the four bases for success;

• the basis of success called firm resolve
• the basis of success called effort. This effort has three stages, namely commencing effort, ongoing effort and victorious effort.
• the basis of success called mental state. One must have the right state of mind for success. In particular there must be patience, forbearance, softness, tranquility and equanimity.
• the basis of success called investigation.

Then the four great efforts too get developed. They are the effort;

• to set aside an unskilled quality that has arisen
• to prevent the unskilled quality that has been set aside from arising
• to bring forth a skilled quality
• to develop the skilled quality that is brought forth.

The five hindrances are primarily the unskilled qualities. Your object of meditation is the skilled quality. These four great efforts constitute right effort. The right effort should be both untiring and unwavering.
As a result of the above, the five faculties get developed. They are the faculties of :

• mindfulness
• effort
• serene concentration
• confidence (faith)
• wisdom.

The faculty of mindfulness (Sati) can always stand on its own. But, effort and serene concentration must always be balanced and should be developed in harmony. If you try too hard or too little you will not attain to serene concentration. Similarly faith (Saddha) and wisdom (Panna) must go hand in hand. If you ignore faith and pursue wisdom, you wll be learned but not wise. Similarly, if you neglect wisdom and only cultivate faith, you would have only acquired blind faith. Such faith is not a faculty that leads to enlightenment. Faith must always be endowed with knowledge and wisdom. Such faith is unshaken confidence.
As one matures in the path, the five powers begin to arise and develop.
They are the powers of :

• mindfulness
• effort
• serene concentration
• confidence and
• wisdom.

The five faculties are also now five powers. Powers that lead to high knowledge and the destruction of the fetters.
When all of the above are sufficiently developed, finally the seven factors of enlightenment arise. There arises the factors of enlightenment called ;

• mindfulness
• investigation into things
• effort
• serene joy
• tranquility
• serene concentration
• equanimity.

These factors of enlightenment are extremely subtle and extremely refined qualities. They are the most proximate dhammas to enlightenment. When they arise one after the other, you are at the door to nibbana (the unconditioned element, the signless element). Completing these seven factors one reaches enlightenment, nibbana, the extinction of dukkha.
The above are the thirty seven dhamma (qualities) that lead to enlightenment. Namely, the eight (8) factors of the path, the four (4) foundations of mindfulness, the four (4) bases for success, the four (4) great efforts, the five (5) faculties, the five (5) powers and the seven (7) factors of enlightenment. They make up the thirty seven qualities that lead to complete wisdom, breaking up of the fetters, end of dukkha, release, enlightenment.

[RAHEN]

waoo..this seems to be a nice topic..read it half ..its quiet thoughtful...will be back to read more. Thanks 4 sharing.

[NInA]

Pretty informative i must say. However, for those who applies it.

[Miss_Sweet]

Wow...informative post

[heman]

thanks and am happy to note that you all liked it too